New safety rules for popcorn workers

For years, scores of workers in the popcorn and flavoring industries have developed a life-threatening lung disease, with a chemical that gives food a buttery taste to blame.

This month, California became the first state to set safety standards for workers exposed to diacetyl, a flavoring agent typically found in microwave popcorn. The chemical, which occurs naturally in butter and alcoholic drinks, can be hazardous to workers who breathe in the artificial flavoring they make in high concentrations.

Only a sliver of the flavoring industry is based in California, and popcorn manufacturers are primarily in New Jersey and the Midwest. The state has 30 flavoring factories employing about 400 workers, said Steve Smith, a principal safety engineer at Cal/OSHA, the state's occupational safety and health agency.

Workers in flavoring risk the highest diacetyl exposure, but employees in food manufacturing, potentially much greater in number, could also be exposed to the chemical. The health problems workers experience have been rare among consumers.

The new regulation requires employers to protect workers if products they handle contain at least 1 percent diacetyl. Measures include marking areas where workers may encounter the chemical, and limiting and monitoring airborne exposure. If diacetyl is found at certain airborne concentrations, employers must also provide and train workers to use personal protective equipment like respirators.

Worker safety and public health advocates have long pushed for diacetyl exposure limits. Flavor-manufacturing workers were first diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare and irreversible form of fixed obstructive lung disease, in 1985. But it would be more than a decade until diacetyl was linked to "popcorn workers' lung."

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has been researching the health effects of diacetyl. The agency expects to recommend exposure limits for the chemical and a common substitute – 2,3-pentanedione – early next year, said agency spokesman Fred Blosser.

“Our recommendations don’t have the force of law … but certainly they do provide at least a scientific foundation for OSHA and the state OSHA agencies to look at,” he said.

Even though understanding of diacetyl's health effects are "in the infancy," Smith said, "we still needed to make sure people were protected." California plans to update its regulations when the exposure limit is determined, he said.

Failure to comply with the rules could result in citations and fines. Even before the diacetyl standard, California used other safety rules to penalize two firms for exposure to the chemical.

In 2004, Frank Herrera, a product mixer at Mission Flavors & Fragrances, in Foothill Ranch, was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans after a year and a half on the job. He has lost 70 percent of his breathing capacity and at one point slept tethered to an oxygen tank, according to a 2006 story by the Sacramento Bee.

Initially fined $45,575 for a dozen violations, the company paid $8,160 in a settlement. The company's appeal of a second round of citations, carrying a $192,300 fine, is pending.

Carmi Flavor & Fragrance Company, in the City of Commerce, has also been fined twice. In 2005 and 2006, two workers who mixed butter flavoring in large, industrial blenders were hospitalized and diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans. One of the workers, Irma Ortiz, has lost 80 percent of her breathing capacity.

"Before I used to be more healthy, but not no more," she told the Sacramento Bee in 2006. "I gave all my strength to Carmi, to the company. I leave all my strength there."

Slapped with 27 violations, Carmi settled its initial $51,735 penalty for less than half that amount. It is currently appealing a dozen more violations.

In October, Cal/OSHA began investigating Mission Flavors again, after an employee was diagnosed with fixed obstructive airway disease due to diacetyl exposure, said Krisann Chasarik, an agency spokeswoman. The investigation is still open.